The Easiest Way To Save The Planet

by Jo Macdonald

It can be easy to feel despair at the state of our planet sometimes, the waste, the pollution, climate change, deforestation, and a growing number of animals facing extinction. And with that despair can come a sense of helplessness, a feeling that unless we're rescuing animals in the rainforest, chaining ourselves to trees, or joining Greenpeace on a ship there isn't really that much we can do to make a difference. But the reality is that there is something we can all do. And we can do it right now. Starting today.

We can all become Wallet Activists. That's right, we can literally start saving our planet with every penny we spend. It's as simple as buying less, switiching to environmentally friendly products and choosing ethically sourced goods over others. Our consumer choices have a far bigger impact on the environment than most of us realise. And, in the case of non-eco friendly household cleaners, on our own health.

And yes, I know that in some ways it might feel like a hassle to change from your favourite products and that it will be harder work. But it really won't. Like anything, once you get used to it you'll, well, get used to it.

‘You cannot get through a single day without having an impact on the world around you. What you do makes a difference and you have to decide what kind of difference you want to make.’

— Dr. Jane Goodall

As women over 40 we are one of the biggest consumer groups on the planet, and that's because we tend to do most of the household shopping, most of the household cooking and, sorry but it's still true, most of the household cleaning. So we can choose better. We can choose the products that protect the environment.

And companies will take notice. They are already beginning to. They look at the trends, they see what people are purchasing and they create more of it. So, if we buy cheap plastic that will never biodegrade, well, they're simply going to keep churning out more cheap plastic. But if we choose to ditch those products and buy the eco-friendly alternatives, then they'll catch on and make a change. Plus they tend to catch on quicker when you let them know that you'll no longer be buying their goods and why.

Still wondering if your shopping habits really make a difference? Read these statistics from the 1 Million Women project:

If 1 million women switched to menstrual cups it would savve 240 million tampons and packaging ending up in landfill each year.

If we all ditched beauty products containing micro-beads we would prevent billions of these plastic beads polluting our oceans and killing sealife.

If we all went back to making plunger coffee instead of using pods we could avoid 55 million pods being thrown away every single day (each one takes 500 years to break down).

If 1 million women bought their next item of clothing second-hand instead of new it would prevent 6 million kg of carbon pollution entering the atmosphere.

If every person who read this article decided to make some changes and then shared this article with just 3 other women in their life encouraging them to become Wallet Activists too...pretty quickly we would reach 1 million women and help save our planet. We can all do something to make a difference in this world. We just have to start today.